Sustainable success does not come through working more hours, getting more clients or even raising your fees. It is driven by certain habits and beliefs. Invest in yourself and master these three things. Watch this.

What would happen for you if you surrounded yourself with brilliant, visionary, successful, supportive people regularly?

This question came up for me over the weekend as I read a facebook post from an old high school classmate of mine. She said something like this:

“Sometimes you just have to get out of your comfort zone…the quality of the people I’ve been with for the last 3 days has been inspiring…”

one of my all time faves

Now I don’t know where she went or who she was around but I do know that feeling. The feeling of being in a room where you feel lifted and empowered…where there is no competition, only a desire to see everyone succeed. It’s a pretty cool feeling. Especially if you’re most often around what I call “comfort zone lovers.”

Then, as I was reading Secrets of 6-figure Women by Barbara Stanny, I ran across this paragraph:

“Too often I see under-earners hanging out with pessimists, worrywarts, folks who are generally fearful. The only thing people in that group will likely support is the status quo. Six-figure women, on the other hand, are drawn to risk takers, or at the very least, to those who applaud their efforts to go out on a limb.

That spoke to me big time because I see the mindset often. I had to break through it myself.

With all that said, there’s no need for a bunch of commentary on my part. This stuff speaks for itself. So I’ll just go back to my original question:

What would happen for you if you surrounded yourself with brilliant, visionary, successful, supportive, happy people regularly? What could you do if you were around people who refused to doubt you?

FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS! JUST BE SURE TO ADD THIS BLURB: Monique is an author and thought leader on women and money. As a certified Income and Influence Coach, Monique uses her nearly two decades as a producer and on-air personality and 10 years as an entrepreneur to help women in business drop fear and excuses to become highly-visible high-earners. Her second OverFlow Women’s Business Retreat is being held in San Juan Puerto Rico June 9-12 2015. Go tohttp://OverflowRetreat.com.

Under-charging is a big problem in the entrepreneurial community, especially among women. It’s like a chronic illness that stops you from running your business at the highest levels. It can also cause you to feel like an employee in your own company.

So how do you stop the epidemic of under-charging and under-earning? First, let’s acknowledge the most common myths that exist within the entrepreneurial community:

Never under-charge again.

Myth #1:You have to work from sun up until sun down to make your business grow. This is such a lie. Sure some sweat equity is required to get going, but if you’ve been in business for 3 years, you should have processes and systems in place that allow your business to operate smoothly even in your absence.

Myth #2:If you’re a service professional, you have to charge by the hour or if you sell products, you have to have the lowest prices. Another lie. If you are charging by the hour for your services, you are cheating yourself. If you feel your prices have to be the lowest in town, you might as well open up a dollar store.

Myth #3:You have to be the one in your business who does everything. You can not earn what you are worth if you do the filing, the mailings, the follow up calls, the event planning, the marketing, the sales calls, the web design and everything else. Just because you can do a task in your business doesn’t mean you should and being busy, doesn’t mean you are profitable.

BOTTOMLINE: If you believe one or more of these myths, more than likely, you are under-charging AND under-earning.

Now let’s look at the reasons entrepreneurs undercharge

- You are not sure how to price your service or products. Again, charging by the hour is not the way to price what you do. You’re far to brilliant to be earning an hourly wage.

- You are not sure if your current clients will pay higher fees. Some won’t and that’s okay! What you as a woman entrepreneur must do is have overwhelming confidence in the results you provide for your clients.

- You don’t consistently attract your ideal client because you have not clearly conveyed the value of what you do for them – Don’t tell me how you do what you do. As your client, I don’t really care about that. What I care about is the value of what you do. Can you save me money? Make me feel more beautiful? Make my life easier? Where there is value, profit follows. So what is your value?

- You haven’t identified a niche. General marketing (or marketing to everyone) fails every time. Unless you have a gazillion dollars in your marketing budget you cannot market to “everyone.” Instead, focus on a specific group with a specific problem that you can solve effortlessly. Build a relationship with them. Speak their language. Position yourself as the person they need to connect with…and they will come.

So how do you STOP the epidemic of under-charging and under-earning? I’ll share 4 simple strategies in my next article. In the meantime, what are you doing in your business to bring more value to your clients AND earn more money?

FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS! JUST BE SURE TO ADD THIS BLURB: Monique is an award-winning TV & Radio personality and a certified Income and Influence Coach for emerging women in business. Using her nearly two decades as a producer and on-air personality and 10 years as an entrepreneur, she helps women in business drop fear and excuses to become highly visible high-earners. Her OverFlow Women’s Business Retreat is being held in San Juan Puerto Rico June 9-12, 2015.

Whenever our Cousin Chris comes in town, we talk and laugh for hours. Right now he and his wife Pam are visiting from Atlanta and last night, he said something to me that made me beam. With his cool southern accent, he said:

“I’m always checking you out online. You tryna show them women how to ‘get that paper’…” (<–slang for “make money.”)

Training starts soon.

Yep. Cousin Chris summed it up pretty well. LOL! I wouldn’t have put it quite that way exactly but in a nutshell, that’s what I do.

I love that Chris was able to see my mission so clearly and unwrapped the goal of my brand so succinctly. He was able to do this just by checking me out online. He also said he has a female co-worker who is a budding entrepreneur that he wants to introduce to me.

Nice.

That tells me that my brand is clear and my reach is expanding even when I’m not around. That tells me that I’ve finally begun to master certain elements of my branding, which I believe is the secret to success in business.

DON’T BE ONE OF THE GENERICS IN YOUR INDUSTRY

Whether you know it or not, right now, you are a walking, breathing, living brand. Even if you’re not trying to be, you are.

If you’re an entrepreneur your personal brand intersects with your business brand and vice versa. So what does your brand say about you as a person?

How well-shaped is your business brand?

Do you truly understand what branding is and how it drives your success or lack thereof?

Are you intentionally growing the kind of brand that magnetically and magically attracts your most ideal clients to you?

These are questions that many entrepreneurs don’t explore enough. I know this because I still hear people introducing themselves with such generic terms as esthetician, massage therapist, life coach and marketing consultant. In today’s world, what the hell do those terms mean anyway?

As an entrepreneur, you’ve gotta spend some time developing a brand so that you don’t get lumped in with the generics in your industry. You’ve gotta establish a unique presence in the market so that you can attract and retain loyal customers. Branding with clarity is one way to do this.

It took me years to figure this out for myself. About 5 years ago it all finally clicked for me and I created a system that has literally helped me and some of my clients completely transform our profit potential. Once clients get a hold of this system it’s like the gates of heaven swing open. Suddenly they feel totally unstoppable!

SO, WHAT DO YOU DO?

People had all kinds of titles for me when I was just starting out in coaching. Now they know that I am not just a coach. I’ve built a brand that boasts the results that I get for my ideal clients.

For example. When someone asks me “so, what do you do?” I don’t say, “I’m a certified business coach.” I say something like this:

I am a money and marketing mentor for women entrepreneurs. I have signature systems that help them earn more money, gain more influence and have more freedom in their business within 1 year or less.

Whenever I say this, people always want to know more. True to my brand, I generously give them more and I have a system for turning them into paying clients as well.

Being able to give an answer to the age old question, “so, what do you do?” is just ONE key to branding yourself with clarity and for profits.

You are not just an esthetician, you’re an anti-aging expert who helps women over 40 look closer to 30.

You’re not just a massage therapist,you’re an optimal health professional who uses massage to help athletes, executives or entertainers (whoever your ideal client is) achieve peaceful, balanced, stress-free lifestyles and total body wellness.

Get the gist of it? Good. Now it’s your turn. Using the examples I gave, craft your answer to the question, “So, what do you do?” Leave your answer below. If you feel totally stumped, I invite you to sign up for my upcoming training called Brand Clarity = Prosperity. Go get details for that right here.

FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS! JUST BE SURE TO ADD THIS BLURB: Monique is an award-winning TV & Radio personality, Media Visibility & Influence Expert and Money Breakthrough Coach for emerging women in business. Using her nearly two decades as a producer and on-air personality and 10 years as an entrepreneur, she helps women in business drop fear and excuses to become highly visible high-earners. Her book BOLD Money will be published in 2014.

HEAVENLY FATHER, I come into your presence with humility, giving honor and praise to Your Magnificent Name. Thank You for the challenges of my past, thank You for the power in the present moment and thank You for the possibilities that await me in the new year!

As I look ahead at what the future holds for my business, I choose not to worry. You gave me the vision of this business and I trust that You will give the provision needed for unprecedented success in this coming year.

Right now in the name of Jesus I bless each and every day of 2014.

Lord I know that there is a millionaire on the inside of me and I know that You want me to prosper. So over the next 365 days Lord, grant me stamina so that I can go the distance and exceed my clients expectations;

Clarity so that I can hear the sound of your voice and make my decisions quickly, based on your guidance;

Focus so that I don’t get distracted with nonsense that is outside of your will for my business;

Boldness, so that I will fearlessly ask for what I want, raise my rates when necessary, say no to clients who don’t value me and help me to always remember to come to you in prayer first.

Bless my mind Lord that I might have the courage to think bigger this year than I ever have before. Let YOUR vision for my business become MY vision for my business.

Thank You Lord for the right money mindset. Thank You that my spirit is open to the level of success you want me to have

Bless my gifts and talents that I might use them to glorify You!

Thank You Lord for the right support team who can help me grow and give me freedom. Thank You for a strong foundation that will help my business weather any storm. Thank You that my family supports my vision. Thank You Lord for powerful and innovative strategies that will propel me to my next divine level

Thank You for million dollar ideas and the courage to follow through on them

Thank You for divine grace, favor, mercy, access & influence in my industry. Thank You for supernaturally opening doors, thank you for visibility. Thank You for mentors who believe in me. Thank You for the courage to stay on the path that You have laid out for me.

Thank You Lord for an overflow of clients that no one else can serve like me and thank You Father for an overflow of contracts, cash and opportunities. Thank You for supernatural debt freedom this year. Thank you for blessings wherever I go!

I thank You God of the Heavens that You have blessed me with the opportunity to be in business for myself and I declare and decree that this year will be a multi-million dollar, debt-free, breakthrough year for God-believing and God-loving entrepreneurs around the world.

And so it is! And it is so! In Jesus name. Amen.

FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS! JUST BE SURE TO ADD THIS BLURB: Monique is an award-winning TV & Radio personality, Media Visibility & Influence Expert and Money Breakthrough Coach for emerging women in business. Using her nearly two decades as a producer and on-air personality and 10 years as an entrepreneur, she helps women in business drop fear and excuses to become highly visible high-earners. Her book BOLD Money will be published in 2014.

Yesterday’s article was about some of the things that prevent women entrepreneurs from reaching 6 or 7-figures in their business. I know the pattern all too well. Not only because many of the women I coach get tripped up by these common barriers, but I’ve fallen into the traps myself!

It took me years to see that I was in a vicious cycle of under-earning that could only be corrected by de-programming, forgiveness and releasing my disempowering mindset.

I’ll be talking more about mindset in an upcoming post but today, let’s take a quick look at some simple habits, actions and beliefs you can adopt that will put you on the path to your profits. This formula has very recently become the blueprint for my business.

Before designing this formula, I floundered around for years. Any time a bright idea jumped into my head I’d switch gears, change direction and ultimately lose focus. My chronic distractions led to me compromising my big vision which made me frustrated, stressed, overworked and under-paid.

Once I decided that I’d had enough of the B.S., I hired a coach and designed a template that has helped me double my income. In fact, this template (along with relentless accountability from my coach) is going to put me into the multiple six figures in 2014. I call it my ”7 steps to 6-figures” formula. Today I’ll share 2 of the 7 steps:

1.) Uncover your “money personality.” Your money personality is just like your DNA. It’s the fabric and the soul of your relationship with money. Your money personality consists of all the internal and external “stuff” that left an imprint on you during your childhood and still guides your thoughts, habits, actions and beliefs around money today.

So if you’ve hit a brick wall with money or you make plenty but can’t seem to keep it, knowing your money personality will help you see exactly why that is, so you can then course correct. For me, uncovering my money personality was like someone unlocking a door that led me straight down the path to my financial overflow. It was like finding the missing piece to my money puzzle. I help my clients uncover their money personality with a simple assessment test, then I do a personal reading for them. During every personal reading, a light goes on for the brilliant woman I’m working with. Almost everytime, she’ll say “Ohhhhhh, now I get it….!” Knowledge of your money personality makes everything make sense and that’s a really good feeling.

2.) Connect with people in the income bracket you aspire to. I’m not saying you have to abandon or turn your nose up at your homies who constantly harp on their money woes but I am saying they shouldn’t take up the bulk of your free time.

On your path to growing your business and changing your money story, it’s is crucial to get around people who have created the amount of money freedom that you are looking to create for yourself. If you’re the wealthiest, smartest and most visionary person in the room, you need to go to a new room. Find high-level professional groups, entrepreneur assocations or coaching clubs that have noted successful people as members. The people in these kinds of circles talk, think, act and present themselves differently. They have a certain vibe. They have a different energy. Your goal is to let some of that rub off on you.

It may feel uncomfortable to be around them at first but that’s okay. Stay with them. Listen. Ask questions. Be confident and authentic. Their wisdom and habits will impact you and you’ll begin to see a dramatic difference in yourself very quickly.

In my next blog, I’ll share some more strategies in my 6-figure formula. In the meantime, what’s coming up for you after reading this? Any “ahas”? What do you know about your money personality?

FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS! JUST BE SURE TO ADD THIS BLURB: Monique is an award-winning TV & Radio personality and a certified Income and Influence Coach for emerging women in business. Using her nearly two decades as a producer and on-air personality and 10 years as an entrepreneur, she helps women in business drop fear and excuses to become highly visible high-earners. Her OverFlow Women’s Business Retreat is being held in San Juan Puerto Rico June 4-6, 2014.

I heard an alarming statistic from a millionaire woman entrepreneur the other day.

She said when she first started in business, she quickly learned that less than 3 percent of women owned businesses hit the million dollar mark.

Then she revealed that less than 1/10th of 1 percent of African American woman-owned businesses ever reached 7-figures.

The thought of that literally made made my stomach hurt. It’s like there’s a big pink elephant in the room and not enough of us are willing to do something about it.

But truth be told, in my money and influence coaching with women entrepreneurs (many of whom are African American) it’s plain to see what stops us from getting to millionaire status. It’s a combination of the following:

lack of strategic planning - too much flying by the seat of our pants and not sitting down before year end to design the flow of your business for the next 12 to 18 months. Trust me ladies, planning ahead is both liberating and profitable!

reluctance to invest in a coach - we’re strong, we’re smart so we think we can do it alone…bad move. Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of his time and even he had a coach. Every winner has a coach.

difficulty delegating - as entrepreneurs, we tend to think we’re at our best when we’re busy. So we wind up doing everything in the business–including the stuff we’re not that good at and the tasks we know we should be paying someone else to do. Remember this: being busy does not equate to growing a business.

disempowering money mindset - Don’t even get me started here cuz I could write all day about it — so let’s save this for a future blog post — k?

These are just four common obstacles women entrepreneurs face. Have any of these tripped you up? Share your experiences below. When you’re ready to be honest with yourself, then you’re ready to get on the path to profits.

In tomorrow’s blog post, I’ll reveal some innovative ways to get you into multiple 6-figures in your business and on the path to creating your millions.

Monique is an award-winning TV & Radio personality, Media Visibility & Influence Expert and Money Breakthrough Coach for emerging women in business. Using her nearly two decades as a producer and on-air personality and 10 years as an entrepreneur, she helps women in business drop fear and excuses to become highly visible high-earners. Her book BOLD Money will be published in 2014.

Whatever the thing is that you need to make happen — even the biggest and seemingly insurmountable tasks — can easily be achieved simply by asking yourself the right questions.

There are two kinds of questions: pity party questions and peak potential questions.

Pity party questions sound like this:

How could I be so stupid? How could I make such a bad decision? What made me think I could do this? How did I get myself into this?

When you ask yourself these kinds of questions, your brain will automatically give you an answer that disempowers you. Peak potential questions do just the opposite. They cause the brain to instantly tap into the powerful solutions and brilliance that you have inside that can instantly propel you. Peak potential questions sound something like this:

What are 3 things I can do everyday to create $20,000 in 30 days? How can I create a year’s worth of income in 6 months? What 3 tasks can I eliminate or outsource that would free up 3 hours of my time daily.

These questions have a completely different vibration that tap into a part of your psyche that has the capacity to do just about anything.

One time, I needed to create $20,000 in 30 days. At that time I had never done it before so it seemed impossible. But with the help of my incredible coach I put together a plan based on peak potential questions. By the end of the month I had created nearly $18,000, more than I had ever created in that amount of time. Yes, I fell short but wow, not a bad outcome, simply by asking great questions.

It works. You should try it. So here’s your assignment. Commit to a bold money goal. Then ask yourself 3 peak potential questions to get it done. Give yourself 30 days, have a plan and be relentless. You will get results. Is this something you can do?

Monique is an award-winning TV & Radio personality, Media Visibility & Influence Expert and Money Breakthrough Coach for emerging women in business. Using her nearly two decades as a producer and on-air personality and 10 years as an entrepreneur, she helps women in business drop fear and excuses to become highly visible high-earners. Her book BOLD Money will be published in 2014.

Today is devoted completely to fortifying my 2014 business strategy. No projects. No errands. No clients. Just me and my coach, working, strategizing, visioning how to make next year ridiculously outstanding.

Here’s what we’re working on:

- Marketing calendar for the ENTIRE year built around doing stuff I love (speaking, coaching, training and writing books) and taking plenty of time off to enjoy some island hopping.

- Systems for handling client care and client relationships. No more leaving money or opportunities on the table simply because we don’t have a process in place to stay connected to those who benefit from the solutions I provide.

- Team building. Thanks to my coach, I now know that my reluctance to delegate is nothing more than fear of massive success. Needless to say, I’ve dropped the fear and I’m investing in team so I can serve in a bigger way.

- National Publicity. You know I’m all about being visible and I strongly believe in the power of what I call “inspired influence.” I’ll be hitting the top TV and radio shows AND popular magazines so I can empower and connect with the women everywhere.

We’ll finish all this by 6:00 p.m. tonight.

Actually, I start working on my New Year success strategies every September. I look at what worked well, what flopped, what I really loved doing, what I never want to do again, what I could do better, what do I want to do more of in the coming year AND (as my coach puts it) what I need to ditch, delegate or re-design.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you should be doing this too.

When you’re self-employed, it’s so easy to get stuck on a hamster wheel constantly working “in” your business. If you want to become frustrated and resentful of your business, keep doing that. If you want to see your profits and freedom increase, you gotta take the time to work “on” your business.

My goal for 2014 is to double my income while working less. My objective is to be a 7-figure business in 3 to 5 years (or less)! I’m finally building a sustainable, efficient and self-motivated team who supports me, my brand and my vision. This is a MAJOR component of success. I’ll be teaching these same strategies in more detail at this Summer’s OverFlow Retreat for women entrepreneurs.

Listen. Stop trying to do everything on your own. You will wear yourself out and eventually become an employee in your own company and that would suck big time.

So what is your strategy for 2014? Do you intentionally take time out to plan your entire year? Or do you operate in a different way? What’s working for you? Leave your comments below.

FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS! JUST BE SURE TO ADD THIS BLURB: Monique is an award-winning TV & Radio personality and a certified Income and Influence Coach for emerging women in business. Using her nearly two decades as a producer and on-air personality and 10 years as an entrepreneur, she helps women in business drop fear and excuses to become highly visible high-earners. Her OverFlow Women’s Business Retreat is being held in San Juan Puerto Rico June 4-6, 2014.

As visionary women leaders, some of us tend to earn way less than we deserve. As I’ve said a gazillion times before, you are too brilliant to be broke! In this vid, I give my best recomendations on how to adopt the values and habits of the rich so you can earn what you are worth — 6-figures and beyond!